Pan-cancer analysis of whole genomes

Cancer is driven by genetic change, and the advent of massively parallel sequencing has enabled systematic documentation of this variation at the whole-genome scale(1-3). Here we report the integrative analysis of 2,658 whole-cancer genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types from the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We describe the generation of the PCAWG resource, facilitated by international data sharing using compute clouds. On average, cancer genomes contained 4-5 driver mutations when combining coding and non-coding genomic elements; however, in around 5% of cases no drivers were identified, suggesting that cancer driver discovery is not yet complete. Chromothripsis, in which many clustered structural variants arise in a single catastrophic event, is frequently an early event in tumour evolution; in acral melanoma, for example, these events precede most somatic point mutations and affect several cancer-associated genes simultaneously. Cancers with abnormal telomere maintenance often originate from tissues with low replicative activity and show several mechanisms of preventing telomere attrition to critical levels. Common and rare germline variants affect patterns of somatic mutation, including point mutations, structural variants and somatic retrotransposition. A collection of papers from the PCAWG Consortium describes non-coding mutations that drive cancer beyond those in the TERT promoter(4); identifies new signatures of mutational processes that cause base substitutions, small insertions and deletions and structural variation(5,6); analyses timings and patterns of tumour evolution(7); describes the diverse transcriptional consequences of somatic mutation on splicing, expression levels, fusion genes and promoter activity(8,9); and evaluates a range of more-specialized features of cancer genomes(8,10-18).Peer reviewe

Docetaxel-loaded solid lipid nanoparticles as a basis for a targeted and dose-sparing personalized breast cancer treatment strategy

Natalia V Danilova,1,2 Zhomart R Kalzhanov,3 Nina A Nefedova,2 Pavel G Mal’kov,2 Ioannis P Kosmas,1,4 Marina Y Eliseeva,1,5 Ospan A Mynbaev1,5,6 1International Translational Medicine and Biomodeling Research Team, MIPT Center for Human Physiology, Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Technologies, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, State University, 2Department of Physiology and Basic Pathology, Faculty of Fundamental Medicine, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia; 3Department of Human Metabolism, Academic Unit of Reproductive and Developmental Medicine, Sheffield University, Sheffield, UK; 4Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ioannina State General Hospital G Chatzikosta, Ioannina, Greece; 5Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine, Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, 6Laboratory of Immunology, Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry named after AI Evdokimov, Moscow, Russia The long-term survival rate of patients with breast cancer was improved by the application of systemic adjuvant chemotherapy,1 although the primary breast cancer treatment strategy consists of mastectomy with lymphadenectomy and radiotherapy followed by breast reconstruction.2–5 Unfortunately, most adjuvant chemotherapeutic agents trigger major side effects.1,6 Therefore, we have read with great interest an article in the International Journal of Nanomedicine on the design of docetaxel-loaded solid lipid nanoparticles (DSNs) aimed at reducing the systemic toxicity of standardized docetaxel treatment.7 Read the original article&nbsp